1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel and a method of forming barrier ribs for the same. More particularly, the invention relates to a plasma display panel and a method of forming barrier ribs for the same, which can prevent the separation of the barrier ribs.
2. Related Art
Recently, there have been increasingly demanded display devices having a reduced thickness and a larger display area. Among a variety of display devices, plasma display panels (hereinafter referred to as "PDPs") have a reduced thickness and are readily adapted for color display and for a larger display area. In addition, the PDPs are self-luminant and have excellent visibility. Therefore, the PDPs are promising, for example, as wall-mount large-screen TVs (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No.3-179630(1991), No.5-299019(1993) and 7-161298(1995).
The PDP is a display device which has a discharge space defined between a pair of substrates opposed to each other with a minute spacing and are peripherally sealed.
The PDP typically has barrier ribs formed on one of the substrates for partitioning the discharge space. In the case of a PDP adapted for color display, for example, elongated barrier ribs are formed on a substrate in an equidistantly spaced relation, and fluorescent layers are provided between the barrier ribs.
The formation of the barrier ribs are typically achieved by applying a glass paste onto the substrate by way of screen printing and then baking the resulting substrate. However, this method presents difficulties associated with reduction in the barrier rib width and arrangement pitch, so that a high-precision display cannot be realized. In an attempt to increase the size of the display area, contraction of a screen mask makes it impossible to maintain a uniform positional relationship between electrodes and the barrier ribs over the entire display area. Overprinting is required to be performed ten times or so for the formation of the barrier ribs having a predetermined height. This leads to deformation of the barrier ribs at the printing and at the baking, which may cause a discharge failure.
As an alternative to the screen printing method, a sandblast method has been proposed for practical applications. In accordance with this method, a barrier rib material layer is formed on a barrier rib formation surface of a substrate, and then a mask having a predetermined barrier rib pattern is formed thereon by photolithography. Thereafter, the barrier rib material layer is selectively removed for formation of barrier ribs below the mask by blasting an abrasive perpendicularly to the barrier rib material layer, and then the mask is removed.
Where barrier ribs having a smaller width are formed by the sandblast method, the barrier ribs are liable to separate from the substrate when the mask is removed or due to an external force such as vibration applied when the substrate is combined with a counter substrate for assembly of a display panel.